


Breathe (6 AM)

by master_riku



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Dialogue Light, Feels, Guilt, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Love Bites, M/M, No Smut, Sunrises, riku's wrist, soft hours
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 05:30:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20961257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/master_riku/pseuds/master_riku
Summary: Roxas had never tried to heal Riku before, had never seen anyone else cast the spell on him either. Riku was still keeping secrets, even now, after everything. Was it so much to ask of the universe that they find a little rest in each other?





	Breathe (6 AM)

**Author's Note:**

> a little oneshot I worked up in discord and finally got around to cleaning up and expanding on.

Riku always healed himself. It was just the way it worked out. He was really good at the spell, really good at not getting injured in combat to begin with, and he never seemed to need healing by the time someone else cast a cure in the rotation.

His competence proved his Mastery, everyone assumed. Riku didn't dissuade them.

Even waking sated and marked all to hell with Roxas splayed out on top of him and smirking at the sight, it seemed natural for Riku to be the one to cast a cure, the words easy on his mumbling morning lips.

He always let Roxas admire the feast of bites and scratches first, cuddling and touching and tracing the impressively deep lines shaded in hues of red with softer fingers, revisiting bitten bruises with tender kisses and hot huffing breaths of laughter that made affection surge and swirl between them.

But then, before Roxas could think to offer, and usually while he was distracted mid-kiss or even mid-shower, Riku was healed up and they were starting their day.

He _ should _ have noticed, he thought, in hindsight. Roxas was so perceptive--he even prided himself on that attribute. But Riku could outmatch him in subtlety.

So when one morning Roxas woke before Riku, hot and bothered and ready to go, and decided to cast his own cure to better wake Riku up refreshed and on his level, it struck him that this was the first time he'd ever done it--just a minute too late.

Roxas had luxuriated in the calm morning, letting wakefulness wash into him and stir the embers of the passion he hadn't fully quenched last night. Rays of pink sunlight pierced through gaps in the curtains, dancing to the tune of the wafting breeze.

The flickering, soft sunrise looked good on Riku, curled up so trustingly next to his boyfriend. Every purpling hickey and stripe was enhanced by the room's blushing glow and Roxas hummed appreciatively.

He rolled over and prodded lightly at one. Normally he'd take his time, and they could go for the first round of the day later but he was feeling antsy this morning.

Roxas flattened his palm over Riku's side and intoned a quiet, _ "Heal." _

Something immediately felt weird about the spell. The normally smooth, unfolding petals glanced off of Riku's wrist where it rested on the pillow next to his head. They left a shattered, jagged edge in the afterimage even as the rest of Riku healed over and absorbed the magic.

Roxas gasped at the sight, hand recoiling from the disconcerting shapes. He'd never seen anything like it. But then, he'd never seen anyone try to heal Riku. His mind scrambled for a single image of the event and came up empty.

A jolt of realisation, a twisting series of flashing memories came at him in scattered moments--Riku in battle, Riku in bed, Riku never favouring his wrist when he had to use it but there was that _ look _ Roxas should have recognised from all their more intense painplay. The way Riku somehow almost never used his left hand to begin with.

The way Roxas's keyblade had felt in his hand slamming against a surprisingly immovable force, churning with anger and hurt and dark intent.

And suddenly Roxas knew.

His nostrils flared and his chest strained against the effort of keeping his breaths steady. Guilt? Sorrow? Horror? Maybe. Mostly anger. Riku wasn't supposed to hide things from him anymore.

The sunrise glow shifted into the harsher light of day as Roxas contemplated Riku's sleeping form.

When Riku did finally wake up on his own, Roxas was sitting upright in bed, legs and arms crossed, just staring, face impassive and hard. He saw Riku take stock of himself--with, per usual, the immediacy of a hypervigilant warrior--and he moved just as Riku noticed his healed state.

One hand reaching across to keep Riku down, one hand grabbing the offending wrist and slamming it back into the bed above the pillow, twisting slightly until he saw that look on Riku's face. The withheld look of pain, the tiny points of added strain just around the eyes and jaw. There.

"You were going to tell me about this _ when?_" The question was harsh as he threw it down at Riku, face just inches below his own.

Roxas wasn't sure what he expected--returned anger, maybe; a knock down drag out fight, perhaps, all shouting and excuses and defensiveness and blame wrapped up in crackling electricity. He was prepared for fire and heat.

So the cold, sinking feeling in his gut caught him off-guard when Riku--still naked, vulnerable, and unprotestingly held down half under him--simply softened almost immediately into regret and guilt, eyes open but holding back tears he truly didn't think he deserved to shed. _ Fuck. _

The moment hung heavy with possibilities and expletives rapid-cycling through Roxas's mind. His first instinct was more anger--it always was when he was confronted with a situation he didn't expect. He forced the impulse down; he'd signed up for this beautiful disaster of a boyfriend and that meant all the baggage he carried, too. Unfortunately, that didn't make him automatically _ good _ at this emotional stuff.

Moving very slowly, as if concerned Riku might break, Roxas released his grip and watched the hardness of borne pain fade from the edges of Riku's expression. His teal eyes remained still and waiting--maybe for some kind of retribution he thought was finally coming, maybe for Roxas to agree that this wrist was a just punishment for his past. Roxas wasn't sure. He wasn't sure about much, right now, but he did the first thing that came naturally after anger--touching.

He eased himself down so the arm caging Riku's shoulders came to rest draped over the edge of his chest, the hand near his wrist softly sliding up and twining their fingers together. He laid his head under Riku's chin and listened for his heartbeat. It was too rapid.

They'd been through too much. They were still too young. They'd hurt each other in more ways than any two people should and it seemed like their past was never going to stop interfering in their present, no matter how much and how determinedly they loved each other.

Maybe Riku's wrist could be fixed, maybe it couldn't. Roxas didn't have answers. And he didn't have the right words.

But he curled up as a line of heat along Riku's side and just _ breathed. _ Maybe that would be enough.


End file.
